And more recently: “Don’t you wish American satirists could take more liberties like the French?”

Nowadays, people seem to assume that practicing the craft of political cartooning is an incredibly delicate balancing act akin to handling unexploded cluster bombs, a constant exercise in repression and frustration.

I almost hate to disappoint those looking for a good story about the forces of neo-McCarthyism or puritanism run amok, but the truth is, I …